The Sands of Zulaika
by Kathryn K. Abdul-Baki
Published by Passeggiati Press
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Connie Anderson
The author is an American who has lived in Iran, Kuwait, Beruit and Jerusalem, where she also attended school. So, she knows about other cultures and living in a foreign land as an expatriate.
Gina Monroe is an artist who follows her corporate ladder-climbing husband to Abu Samra where he is in charge of building an electric plant, much needed by the small villages.
She paints; he works. They attend embassy parties with other American and British expatriates working there, and their wives. Then Gina becomes interested in a local man who is an archeologist. She helps him at his digs for ancient history of Abu Samra.
Gina is unhappy in her life and her marriage, and those digs are a wonderful distraction—as it Dr. Marwan Jassim.
The author captures how a painter (Gina Monroe) might see things differently than others. Her descriptions of various colors of the water, sand, sky, and buildings were so vivid you could see her surroundings. I loved that in this book.
The author is a good storyteller, weaving history, architecture, archeology, foods, and romance together nicely. The cultural differences of customs, dress, religion, privacy—all are an important part of the story. She used the correct word for clothing the women wore there, food they ate, and helps us by explaining what the word means for part of dress, food, customs, etc.
The tension between the two worlds—uprisings of militants, long-held fears of villagers, ruling families (shieks)—serve to put us right into that time and place. Gina was braver than many of the other wives—which means that often she was breaking the unspoken rules for safety (and other things) of foreigners. Gina had her own conflicts about her marriage, and Marwan. What was he to her—and her to him? Did her marriage stand a chance?
On a side trip to Cairo, Egypt, a visit to the Sphinx and talking about fabrics, sights and sounds, the book became like a well-written travel guide.
You’ll learn about differences—and those who accept and those who do not accept them nor want to learn about different things and people and cultures.
Published by a Colorado small press, the book would have benefited with a final proofreading to eliminate numerous word problems that distracted me.
Armchair Interview says: Well worth your read if you like a strong fiction with many elements to keep you turning the page.
Author’s Web site: http://www.KathrynAbdul-Baki.com